Stay Away from the Junkyard!
"Stay Away from the Junkyard!" is Episode 2 in Season 7. It originally aired on July 4, 1989. Synopsis The episode begins with LeVar gathering a lot of old junk. He is going to have a yard sale to get rid of all that is cluttering up his garage. As he looks through it, he finds an old watch. It was the very first one he ever owned. Even though it is old, it still ticks. He decides not to sell it. But while he continues cleaning up, he finds an old jacket of his. It has his name on it and it still fits him. He evens finds his old book bag that he took to school with him when he was a boy. He carried pencils and books in it. There is no way he'll get rid of both of those. He says, "Just because something is old, it doesn't mean it should be called junk." He finds the title book in the book bag. LeVar points out that in the title book, one man's trash is another one's treasure. He looks around the garage for more things that he thinks would be worth keeping. He finds an invention he and a friend of his worked on one summer. He tries to remember how it works. He finally figures it out and tries it. It is a fancy piggy bank. He decides to display it in his living room. After all, he has made such an incredible work of art. His friends and family should see it. He shows the viewers exactly how it works in slow motion. LeVar brings out an old treasure chest. In it are some of his favorite things, including his old teddy bear. He just can't say goodbye to it. "No matter how old and worn out something is," he says, "there are certain things you just can't be parted from." He asks the viewers if they have anything that they just can't get rid of but their parents want them to throw out. One kid has an old teddy bear named Vanilla, another has a baby doll, and another has a stuffed monkey. LeVar finds more old things that mean so much to him. He explains that most of us keep things because they mean something special to us. But other people do so for another reason. For example, an artist named Michael Ives finds old things people junked long ago and turns them into wonderful works of art. When he finds an old item that catches his attention, he thinks about what he can make from it. LeVar shows the viewers how Michael can turn an old dresser drawer into a story box--an imaginary scene of anything you can picture. When he gets his idea, he paints the inside of the drawer white. In his junk pile, he finds objects he can use for it. When he was a boy, his grandfather taught him how to make something out of nothing. That kind of person is called a scrounger. After he sketches his scene, he adds the layers of old objects on the inside of the drawer. After doing that, he adds the color. That is practically the best part to him. LeVar finds his high school yearbook. In it, he finds a picture of himself as a teenager. He even finds some old ones of himself when he was very young. He decides to take the viewers on a trip with him down Memory Lane. He shows a picture of himself with his mom and dad. Others show his first birthday, his old stuffed bunny, and his first crib. He also shows one of one of his Christmases and an Easter one of him with his two sisters. In one of when he was in fourth grade, he was on his bowling team. He was a terrible bowler back then. In high school, he was captain of his basketball team. During his high school days, he enjoyed acting in school plays. The year he was graduating, he became student council president. He can't believe the ones he showed revealed the image of when he was that young. LeVar finds an old poetry book he wrote when he was little. He reads a poem about a policeman from it. There's a place where he keeps his old books from when he was young. One of which is The Velveteen Rabbit. He knows the entire story by heart. There are many others he never gets tired of reading over and over again. LeVar is ready to sell at his yard sale. A lot of the things he found in the garage were his old stuff that he just couldn't sell. His neighbors have given him some good offers. He tries to sell a slightly chipped cup, a clamp, and a pair of old sandals. There is nothing he can sell at all. But there is one thing he can get rid of: the "yard sale" sign! Review Books *Make Way for Ducklings *The Snowy Day *The Story of Ferdinand Highlighted Book *The Velveteen Rabbit Category:Season 7 Category:Episodes